Shanley's Birth Story (12/25/20)

Shanley is officially 3 months 12 days (when I first began writing this… and now she is days away from being 5 months) and I decided I am finally ready to write out her birth story. I think part of my hesitation has been the fact that while 12/25/20 was the happiest day of our lives, one that I never want to forget, it also has parts that are a little tough to relive.

Shanley was a very punctual baby who arrived RIGHT on her due date of Christmas Day at 7:13am. She was the most perfect little Christmas gift, and will always be our best most cherished gift we will ever receive for Christmas. :)

I went into labor on Wednesday the 23rd, convinced that the workout I did that day and the running around I did with my niece and Ollie that night are what got my body going. I was having dinner with my family when I started getting “crampy” around 8pm. At 39 weeks 5 days I knew that any time could be go time, and while the “cramps” weren’t terribly painful this was a new feeling I hadn’t experienced throughout my pregnancy. So I had a pretty good feeling that this was the beginning and I was indeed having contractions!! The contractions continued throughout the night, and once we got home from our family dinner we started to time how far apart they were every now and again (Using the app Full Term). They were anywhere from 15-30 minutes apart and lasting for 30 seconds or so. Very irregular and they didn’t feel comfy, but they weren’t unbearable either. The doula who led our birth class recommended that as soon as contractions start, to head to bed… so that is what we did! Throughout the night the intensity increased, and there was not much sleep to be had by me! I moved downstairs to the couch, turned on the tv and the fire and tried to rest as much as I could. Falling in and out of sleep until about 7am on the 24th. That morning I decided it was probably a good idea to call the Midwife. I told her I was having contractions all night long, that they were irregular and the intensity of them. She said it sounded like I was in early labor and told me to time how far apart they were only once I felt I wasn’t getting a lot of rest in between, to note the intensity and call once I was having contractions 4 minutes apart, 1 minute at a time, for an hour (4-1-1). She told me that sometimes contractions can be intense at night and mellow out during the day. This is because of our hormones! Estrogen, prostaglandin as well as oxytocin and melatonin cause our uterus to contract more at night because that is when these hormones hit their peak. My contractions however didn’t really let up. They went on throughout the day, still fairly irregular while I tried to rest as much as possible and contemplated if we wanted to go to my parents for Christmas Eve dinner.

We ended up going to my parents for dinner, and being surrounded by my family was a really good distraction!!! But as the night went on things got more uncomfortable. My contractions went from easy to talk through, to needing to close my eyes and breathe. At this point we were timing pretty regularly, and my contractions were 4,5,6 minutes apart, lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 min and getting much more intense. My sisters kept telling me, you will know when you’re close, you won’t even be able to focus. I felt like things were intense, and the numbers were clearly showing that I was getting closer but at this point they didn’t hurt as bad as I had anticipated! Since I was getting closer we decided it was a good idea to head home and get some rest. I laid in bed for a little but was tossing and turning as the pain almost got worse as I was lying down. So I once again moved myself downstairs to try to not wake Trev, but I didn’t last long. While the night before I was able to make it through on my own. I told Trev that the pain was WAY too intense to do so the second night. By 12am I was realllllllly uncomfortable. I was shivering due to my hormones and the adrenaline that came with labor, and felt like I had barely any rest in between contractions. This is when we decided to call the Midwife again. After she heard how I was feeling she told us to meet her at the birth center in about an hour, and so we did!

At 1am we arrived at the birth center. I was really nervous that I was not going to be dilated very far, be sent home, and that the pain was only going to get more intense. My hope was that I was dilated to at least a 5… the good news, I was exactly a 5!!! I felt so proud that I had made it that long on my own, and was excited that I was officially into active labor. We called our moms and told them where I was at, and they made their way to us ASAP. The midwives checked Shanley’s positioning and found that she shifted from the optimal position for delivery that she had been in most of pregnancy, to more complicated position. Therefore they had me lay and hold 3 different positions for 20 minutes each to try to get her to flip back, and it worked! I progressed from 5-10cm rather quickly. I want to say it took about 4 hours (which felt quick in the moment, but sounds like a long time :P). I made it through the contractions without the use of medication, and instead with the help of Trev and our midwives. It was incredible because our midwives assisted Trev with different techniques using pressure to help ease my contractions and it worked wonders! I also really enjoyed my time spent laboring in the tub. I became so relaxed when in the tub (and I was absolutely exhausted at this point) that in between contractions I nearly fell asleep. The tub is also where I first began feeling the urge to push, so this is when the pushing stage began! I spent a little time pushing in the tub, but then decided that I wanted to try a different position so I moved to the stool, where Trev sat behind me and held my hands as I leaned into him. It was really special to have him be so involved, and honestly he was amazing!!! He remained so calm throughout my entire labor and cheered me on exactly as I needed. After some time on the stool I moved to the bed in a side lying position and then onto my back and 2.5 hours after the pushing phase began Shanley was born!!!! While on the bed however, the midwives noticed meconium ( the babies first poop which sometimes happens in the womb due to stress) in my fluid… This can be no big deal in some cases, but unfortunately for us it made for a VERY scary outcome once Shanley was born. I continued pushing once they noticed just how much meconium was present because we were at the point that Shanley was crowning (so very close) and transporting me to the hospital at this point would be dangerous. Pushing for me was a big challenge. It was the final step in what had been a very long labor, and to top it off Shanley’s head was stuck on my pubic bone making me work EXTRA hard to get her out. After lots of pushing and rest, pushing and rest …. I finally got to meet our beautiful baby!!!! She was quickly put on my chest, and while I was completely exhausted I felt so relieved, happy, thankful, and full of LOVE for our little girl. But things took a turn quickly after she was placed on my chest and she wasn’t crying as she should. Shanley had inhaled the meconium in my fluid, filling her lungs, which made it very hard for her to breathe. The midwives took Shanley from my chest, flipped her on her back next to me and were suctioning out her mouth to try to help her breathe better. Eventually they grabbed a hand held oxygen device and were pumping air into her lungs, then called 911 to have an ambulance come and take Shanley to the hospital. Minutes after pushing Shanley out, before even delivering my placenta, several male paramedics walked in and swooped our baby away. Trev and one of the midwives rode with Shanley to the hospital which was luckily just a few minutes away. I was left there arms empty, not even really sure or able to comprehend in that moment what just had taken place. While Trev was on his first duty as a father accompanying our daughter on her first (and hopefully only) ambulance ride. She was admitted into the NICU for a 16 day stay. It took 5 days for us to be able to hold Shanley, or even hear her cry, due to the fact she was intubated. I’ll tell you what, the delay made getting to hold her and hearing that strong cry that much sweeter. Those were some of the toughest 16 days of our lives. Our birth while beautiful, was also quite traumatic, and we can honestly say that even though we have our healthy happy baby girl, we still find ourselves getting emotional about our experience. Thankfully between Trev and I having each other, our love, and our extremely supportive and loving families AND friends we overcame the challenges and hardships that the first couple weeks of Shanley’s life brought. While we won’t forget about the challenges we had to overcome, we will continue to feel incredibly thankful and happy that Shanley made such an amazing recovery after being so sick and celebrate the fact we get to enjoy a lifetime of her smiling face. :)